Today vanilla is worth more than silver. The price has been steadily climbing for years. Isn't that crazy?
A kilo of vanilla costs around $700 USD (it was $40/kilo back in 2011) This means that you'll be shelling out quite a bit for your own vanilla bean and quality extracts. Rather than investing in such a luxury item, I want to suggest changing things up in the kitchen.
Affordable Alternatives & Creativity
Back in the day, rose water was to bakers what vanilla is today. The Forgotten Art of Using Roses In The Kitchen Long before vanilla extract became common place in the kitchen people used flower essences to enhance the flavours of baked good and sweets. Vanilla comes from an orchid so it makes sense that other floral ingredients were once treasured for their ability to enhance the flavours of food.
Rose water is commonly listed as an ingredient in vintage cook books. It wasn't until the mid-1800s that vanilla was discovered and became and affordable common place ingredient in the kitchen.
Vanilla wasn't always a prized ingredient in baked goods. Maybe it's time we started thinking outside of the box, stop following trends and look at the ingredients we can use locally instead?
There are plenty of options to provide that subtle lift in flavour of baked goods. None of them will taste like vanilla but that's the beauty of being creative and trying new things! Vanilla is after all just a flavouring.
Replacements to try
- Maple syrup
- Rose water
- Dark Rum
- Bourbon
- Honey
There really are countless options once you open your mind the the idea that vanilla is not actually necessary. If you start to make bottles of your own extracts at home (very easy to do) the possibilities really get exciting.
How Vanilla Is Made
Growing vanilla is extremely labour intensive. Vanilla is derived from orchids. Each flower is hand pollinated and it can take as long as five years between first planting the vine and producing aged extract. The crops are extremely delicate and susceptible to changes in weather, storms and vine disease. It's one of those crops that comes with a lot of risk.
The pods are harvested by hand and cured in small batches. Its not a simple thing at all! Globe & Mail Article
Vanilla Farmers / Deforestation and Crime
The majority of vanilla is grown in one of the poorest regions on the planet: Madagascar. When prices soar, the profits are not going towards helping the small farmers. Many of them struggle to feed & cloth their family while protecting their crops from the constant threat of theft. It's a very unpleasant situation.
With the discovery of a new strain of orchid that can grow better without shade, Madagascar also runs the risk of even further deforestation. The incredible bio-diversity present on the island is something to be cherished and every day even more of it is destroyed. There is also threat that the small farmers will be pushed out by larger wealthier operations deepening the already prevalent poverty of the country. It's a very bleak situation created by our ignorance.
It certainly makes me feel guilty for every "healthy pour" of vanilla that I've ever dumped into a cake.
Vanillin - The FAKE
With the sky-rocketing pricing and low supply you probably won't be surprised to learn that many of of the vanilla flavoured products that you enjoy are synthetically flavoured. Apparently over 85 percent of vanillin now comes from guaiacol which is a synthesized product from petrochemicals. There are other methods of creating vanillin as well but there is no universal standards for labelling which makes it hard for a consumer to discern exactly what they are buying.
Products containing vanillin have been labelled as "natural flavors”, “other natural flavors", "vanilla flavouring" & "artificial vanilla flavouring" to name a few. You can read more about it here.
Further Reading
Madagascar's vanilla wars: prized spice drives death and deforestation - The Guardian
As the price of pods has soared so has violence – and forest defenders are increasingly risking their lives to protect precious wildlife habitat from being felled for profit
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/31/madagascars-vanilla-wars-prized-spice-drives-death-and-deforestation
Bitter Taste Madagasgar Vanilla - Aljazeera
In the world's top vanilla exporting country farmers live in poverty and constant fear of losing their crop to theft.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/01/bitter-taste-madagascar-vanilla-170131073036652.html
My suggestion to you - try something new. Start looking at food in a different way and explore new locally sourced possibilities.
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